Cannabis > Cannabis News Archives > July 2008
+ 27th July 2008 | Record drug bust in Murray Bridge
Source: The Advertiser
Author: Jordanna Schriever
FOUR people have been arrested after police today seized 45kg of dried cannabis worth more than $750,000 in the state's largest single haul in six years. Detective Superintendent Linda Fellows said the cannabis was allegedly bound for New South Wales and represented 15,000 street deals.
"This is the most significant single seizure of cannabis in South Australia since 2002," Det Supt Fellows said. "It will be our allegation that that vehicle was heading for New South Wales where the cannabis was to be sold in that state. It is a very large amount of cannabis to be trafficked interstate in one single trip."
+ 24th July 2008 | Hydroponic cannabis production 'on rise'
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Unknown
Most of Australia's cannabis is being grown in suburban houses rather than far-flung bush plantations, a new report says. The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) says hydroponic rooms in suburbia have taken over from large outdoor plantations as the source of most of the illegally-grown plant.
It says well-hidden indoor crops produce stronger and more profitable marijuana. Academics from The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), based at the University of NSW, say the success of a locally-based production industry has allowed complex drug networks to grow. They say sophisticated concealment techniques are also used in the distribution of large amounts of cannabis throughout the nation.
+ 23rd July 2008 | £130,000 cannabis haul - four arrested
Source: The Plymouth Herald (UK)
Author: Unknown
FOUR people were arrested yesterday after about £130,000 worth of cannabis resin was found in a car on its way into Plymouth. Three of those arrested – including a teenager – are at Charles Cross police station and the other has been charged this morning.
The car was stopped by police just before 3am on Tuesday as it travelled along the A38 at Marsh Mills. Police said that about £130,000 worth of 'what is thought to be cannabis resin' was found in the vehicle.
+ 22nd July 2008 | Canada's spreading cannabis crop
Source: BBC News
Author: Unknown
In the first of two pieces on organised crime accompanying his Radio 4 series How crime took on the world, Misha Glenny visits British Columbia in Canada where homegrown marijuana has become big business.
As we walk into John's basement, the smell is so overwhelming it almost knocks me off my feet. In front of me stand 120 marijuana plants whose thick bushy leaves cover the strong stems.
John explains quite nonchalantly that this is just a small growing operation, or grow-ops as they are known throughout Canada. But he pays loving attention to the crop - adjusting temperature, light and nutrient supply - to ensure that it enjoys the best possible environment.
Every two to three months, John harvests some 8lbs (3.6kg) of his crop, worth about $20,000.
+ 22nd July 2008 | Atkinson bans hydroponic equipment in SA cannabis crackdown
Source: The Advertiser
Author: Colin James
THE State Government has stepped up its war on hydroponic cannabis, making it illegal to possess the lamps and reflectors used to produce crops.
Equipment used in clandestine drug laboratories also will be targeted by new laws aimed at stopping illegal drug manufacturing within South Australia. The prohibited equipment will include high-intensity lamps, reflectors and carbon filters used for hydroponic cannabis crops.
Laboratory equipment such as condensors, evaporators, heating tools, stirrers, funnels, flasks and filters also will be illegal to possess - unless the owners can provide a legitimate reason for possessing them.
+ 21st July 2008 | Cannabis education key to harm reduction
Source: PR.CannaZine
Author: Unknown
An Internet cannabis community has challenged the British government to come up with a cannabis policy which is based around reducing harm, as opposed to using law enforcement as the primary strategy in the war against cannabis. And according to a spokesman for the Canna Zine cannabis news website , the governments reticence to take into account the fact close to 4 million people choose cannabis over other soft drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, is motivated not by any public health concern, but by money.
To illustrate this fact lets use tobacco as a comparison?
+ 21st July 2008 | Can Cannabis Compounds Slow The Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis?
Source: ScienceDaily.com
Author: Unknown
The CUPID (Cannabinoid Use in Progressive Inflammatory brain Disease) study at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth has reached an important milestone with the news that the full cohort of 493 people with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been recruited to the study.
CUPID is a clinical trial which will evaluate whether tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of many compounds found in the in the cannabis plant (and the main active ingredient) is able to slow the progression of MS.
This is an important study for people with MS because current treatments either target the immune system in the early stages of MS, or are aimed at easing specific symptoms such as muscle spasms or bladder problems. At present there is no treatment which slows progression of the disease.
+19th July 2008 | Cannabis crop found after house fire
Source: ABC News
Author: Unknown
Police say a hydroponic cannabis crop has been found at a house which was badly damaged by fire overnight in the Adelaide suburb of Newton. Fire investigators were at the house on Oakdale Avenue this morning when they discovered up to six cannabis plants in the cellar.
+ 18th July 2008 | Lorry stopped with £1m cannabis
Source: BBC News
Author: Unknown
Cannabis resin estimated to be worth as much as £1m has been seized by police in County Antrim. Police said the discovery was made during a routine patrol near Larne docks at about 0235 BST on Friday.
+18 th July 2008 | Researchers develop DNA database for cannabis
Source: ABC News
Author: Unknown
Researchers in Canberra have helped develop a DNA database for cannabis to help police investigators better track the illegal drug. The Australian National University and Canberra's TAFE worked with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on the project.
+18th July 2008 | Cannabis hidden in baby milk powder
Source: News.com.au
Author: Unknown
CANNABIS was hidden in a tin of baby milk powder inside luggage bound for a remote community in the Northern Territory. A 25-year-old woman was arrested following a search of her luggage at Darwin airport yesterday, police said. Officers allegedly seized 11 taped packages from two bags belonging to the woman, totalling 325g of cannabis.
+ 18th July 2008 | Police Find Thousands Of Marijuana Plants At Indiana Girl Scout Camp (USA)
Source: AllHeadlineNews
Author: Amy Beeman
Syracuse, IN (AHN) -- Two men and a juvenile have been charged with possessing more than 1,000 marijuana plants with the intent to distribute after more that 5,000 plants were found growing at a Girl Scout camp.
Mario Comacho, 44, and Mariano Gonzales, 38, were charged with growing thousands of marijuana plants on land belonging to the Limberlost Girl Scout Council, which runs Camp Ella J. Logan in the area where the plants were discovered by Indiana State Troopers while searching the land by plane.
+ 17th July 2008 | Two Arrested After Record Cannabis Haul in Tokyo
Source: RedOrbit.com
Author: Unknown
Tokyo, July 17 Kyodo - A Japanese business executive and a Chinese student have been arrested for allegedly possessing cannabis for sale and around 180 kilograms of cannabis with a street value of 720 million yen has been seized from a condominium in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.
The amount seized was the largest ever found by police in a raid, the police said.
+ 17th July 2008 | Three tonnes of cannabis seized
Source: BBC News
Author: Unknown
Three tonnes of cannabis resin have been found by West Midlands Police in its largest seizure of the drug. The resin, which police believe has a street value of £9.5m, was found in a raid in Coventry on Tuesday. The drugs were found in six pallets, each containing 500kg (1,100lbs) of cannabis resin bars.
+13 th July 2008 | Cannabis growing offers pot of gold for farmers
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Frank Walker
NSW farmers could be growing cannabis by spring with the approval of the Iemma Government - but this marijuana can't be smoked to get high. It will be a variety of the cannabis plant containing tiny levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that puts the pleasure in pot.
Smoke this Government-approved cannabis and all you'll get is a cough. The Government has just passed the Hemp Industry Act allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp under licence. Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said the plant could be used to help create fuel, building materials, insulation, a base for skincare products, paints, paper products and textiles.
+ 8th July 2008 | $Half billion drug haul
Source: The Tenterfield Star
Author: Unknown
FORMER Tenterfield man Michael Bennett Gardner, 54, and his 28 year old son Michael Bennett Gardner junior have been remanded in custody on charges relating to Queensland, and possibly Australia’s, biggest cannabis bust.
Police discovered up to $500 million worth of cannabis and cannabis products on the Bennett’s 4,000 acre property ‘Kinvarra’ at Warroo, near Inglewood, on Wednesday after months of investigation. It is alleged that they found 20,000 live cannabis plants, sixty 200 litre drums of cannabis and 14,000 plants drying in sheds and under tarpaulins. Some six and a half kilometres of piping had been set up to irrigate the crop, which was spread over seven different areas on the property. Near the weatherboard cottage on ‘Kinvarra’, about six kilometres from the crop, police seized generators, water pumps, four wheel drives and farming equipment. They also seized a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a magazine fitted and a round in the chamber when they went to the house to speak to the residents about the cannabis.
+ 7th July 2008 | No good reason for medipot decision counter to voters' wishes (USA)
Source: TheUnion.com
Author: Thomas D Elias
It is almost certain that the 56 percent of California voters who approved Proposition 215 in an attempt to legalize medical use of marijuana did not intend for employers to discriminate against persons who take advantage of the law they passed.
As it has evolved since passage, the 1996 initiative lets cities and counties issue medipot usage cards to users who smoke the weed to ward off pain caused by ailments from migraine headaches to a wide variety of cancers. Where they exist, the cards can only be obtained with a doctor's recommendation.
With that background, the question before the state Supreme Court earlier this year was whether an employer can fire a worker for using medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.
+ 3rd July 2008 | New clinics for cannabis users
Source: The Northern Rivers Echo
Author: Unknown
Recently-established cannabis clinics in Lismore and elsewhere on the North Coast are providing a range of support to the increasing number of people suffering from health and lifestyle problems as a result of their addictive use of the drug.
The clinics are being operated by North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) counselling staff in Lismore, Nimbin, Ballina and Casino and at other locations and follow the success of four state government funded trial clinics in Sydney and the central west in 2006.
Area director of NCAHS drug and alcohol services John Leary said cannabis (marijuana) was the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with around a third of all Australians having used it at least once in their lifetime.
+ 2nd July 2008 | $42m marijuana crop found
Source: The Courier Mail
Author: Robyn Ironside
POLICE have uncovered about 17,000 cannabis plants - estimated to have a street value of $42 million - in one of Queensland's biggest marijuana hauls. Up to 3000 mature cannabis plants and more than 14,000 drying plants were discovered during police raids on the property "Kinvarra" on Hollybank Rd, Waroo, near Inglewood in the state's south.
Sixty 200-litre drums of harvested cannabis were also found in two massive sheds covering 1800sq m - or twice the size of an average suburban block. Police southern region crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Noel Ragh said public assistance and good police work had prevented enormous amounts of the drugs from being distributed.
+ 2nd July 2008 | Two more milestones in the failed war on drugs
Source: Online Opinion
Author: Sandra Kanck
For those interested in drug laws based on health rather than criminality, June 2008 saw the passing of two anniversaries of note, one at the South Australian level, and the other internationally.
In June 2002, the South Australian Drug Summit was held, and the final communiqué recommended a heroin prescription trial and further consideration of the use of cannabis for medical and therapeutic purposes, recommendations which were strongly supported.
Six years on, neither of these has happened and, as memories of the Summit recede, the likelihood of their implementation decreases. Yet recommendations that received divided support in the Summit, such as criminalising the supply of precursor chemicals, are what the Rann Government is acting on.
+ 2nd July 2008 | Medical marijuana proposal draws fire
Source: The Seattle Times (USA)
Author: Carol M Ostrom
A proposal by state health officials to limit medical-marijuana patients to a pound and a half of pot plus a scattering of plants drew heat from both advocates and law enforcement — but for different reasons.
Advocates had argued for more than 70 ounces of harvested marijuana and a 100-square-foot growing area; law-enforcement officials pushed for a limit of three ounces of harvested pot, three mature plants and six immature plants.
The official draft rule was released Tuesday by the state Department of Health. The department was directed by the Legislature last year to use medical and scientific information to define how much marijuana patients with certain chronic, fatal or debilitating diseases can possess under Washington's medical-marijuana law.
+ NEWS HEADLINES
JULY 2008
- Record drug bust in Murray Bridge
- Hydroponic cannabis production 'on rise'
- £130,000 cannabis haul - four arrested
- Canada's spreading cannabis crop
- Atkinson bans hydroponic equipment in SA cannabis crackdown
- Cannabis education key to harm reduction
- Can Cannabis Compounds Slow The Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis?
- Cannabis crop found after house fire
- Lorry stopped with £1m cannabis
- Researchers develop DNA database for cannabis
- Cannabis hidden in baby milk powder
- Police Find Thousands Of Marijuana Plants At Indiana Girl Scout Camp (USA)
- Two Arrested After Record Cannabis Haul in Tokyo
- Three tonnes of cannabis seized
- Cannabis growing offers pot of gold for farmers
- $Half billion drug haul
- No good reason for medipot decision counter to voters' wishes
- New clinics for cannabis users
- $42m marijuana crop found
- Two more milestones in the failed war on drugs
- Medical marijuana proposal draws fire (USA)
